Photo © 2000 Marilyn Humphries

Queer Take

Regular Witness columnist Irene Monroe is a Ford Fellow and doctoral candidate at Harvard Divinity School. As a self-proclaimed 'public theologian,' one of her outreach ministries is this column, which tries to inform the public of the role religion plays in discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. As Monroe notes, "Because homophobia is both a hatred of the other and it's usually acted upon 'in the name of religion,' by reporting religion in the news I aim to highlight how religious intolerance and fundamentalism not only shatters the goal of American democracy, but also aids in perpetuating other forms of oppressions such as racism, sexism, classism and anti-Semitism."

Irene may be e-mailed at revimonroe@earthlink.net .

• January 2005: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Expansive Dream

• December 2004: Embracing the Bastard Jesus

• November 2004: What's the Matter with Jesusland?

• October 2004: V.P. Candidates Fail AIDS & Black Women Question

• September 2004: Questioning Sexuality Through the Q's

• August 2004: DNC Swept Us Under the Convention-Floor Rug

• July 2004: Remembering Ronald Reagan's Evil Empire

• June 2004: No Marriage Between Black Ministers and Queer Community

• May 2004: Homophobia's Role in Torture at Abu Ghraib

• April 2004:

  • The Gift of the Cross

  • A Bloodshed Theology

• March 2004: Unholy Matrimony: The Black Church & the Christian Right

• February 2004: The Other Struggle in the Episcopal Church

• January 2004: A Different Kind of "Coming Out" Party

• December 2003:

  • The Wilderness Can Heal Both Oppressed and Oppressor

  • More Than Just a Number

• November 2003: Living in a Space of Thankfulness

• October 2003: Black Clerics Hold Myopic View on Marriage and Family

• September 2003: Racism Haunts Queer and Christian Communities

• August 2003: Let the Church Say Amen

• July 2003: Justice Begins in the Bedroom

• June 2003: No Coverage of the Violence against LGBT People of Color

• May 2003: The GOP's Problem with Christianity

• April 2003: The Real War America Needs to Fight

• March 2003: A New Hero for Black History Month

• February 2003: President as Pastor Is No Way to Run a Nation

• January 2003: Playing God with the Human Race

• December 2002: AIDS' Troubling Gender Factor

• November 2002: The Dangerous Life of the "Other"

• October 2002: For Black Gays, Writing is Power

• September 2002: One Year Later, What Have We Learned?
  and Losing Heaven

• August 2002: Cardinal Sends Kids Message of Hate

• July 2002: We, Too, Are Patriots

• June 2002: African-American LGBT People Saying It Loud

• May 2002: It’s a Sin, but It’s Also a Crime

• April 2002: What's in a Name? Plenty, That's What!

• March 2002: The Catholic Church Needs Its Gay Priests

• February 2002: No Salvation For Us in This Army

• January 2002: Let Us Cross Over Into 2002

• December 2001: Lives of Our Heroes Remain Hidden

• November 2001: Targeting Islam, the New Bigotry

• October 2001: Falwell's God Is Not My God

• September 2001: Answering to Our Earth Angels

• August 2001: Will Someone Marry Us? Please!

• July 2001: We Are Foreigners and Strangers Among Ourselves
  and Coming Into Power: Taking Theology to the Streets

• June 2001: Pride and Why We March

• May 2001: Will the Black Church Break Its Silence on AIDS?

• April 2001: Those Who Are Christ in Our Midst

• March 2001: Eminem's Message About the World in Which We Live

• February 2001: Looking for a Valentine That Fits

• January 2001: Biblically Challenged

• December 2000: Finding a Home for the Holidays

• November 2000: Oprah's Good Intentions